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Thursday, August 27, 2015

On Rereads: Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

As the month is winding to a close (it's almost September. This year is almost 2/3rds over. I'm not freaking out, YOU'RE freaking out!) I was looking at my TBR pile and realizing that I am quite behind in this month's reading. I was hoping to have the two books I am currently reading finished by now and I only just started them both. But I'm trying not to stress out about that. I mean it's not the end of the world if I don't read all the books I wanted to, right? *hyperventilates*

But then I realized why I'm behind. Rereads. Before this month I really didn't do many rereads. I wanted to read new books and not spend my reading time focused on a book I had already experienced. But with so many series enders and series continuations happening this fall and winter I decided I needed some refreshers. For the foreseeable future I will be doing one reread a week so I thought I would do a new feature I'm calling On Rereads. They will be mini reviews where I talk about the books I reread and any different impressions I may have had after reading them a second time. Up first..

I was strongly urged to read The Assassin's Blade when starting this series and I still think that is was the right call. It just really develops Celaena's character in a way that makes her incredibly sympathetic. I'm just such a fan of her as a character. She's tough and badass but she's also vulnerable and with this moral compass you wouldn't expect in an assassin.

But what really struck me during my reread is how much stuff from the novellas comes into play during the rest of the series. I'm not sure when the novellas were originally published but they show a lot of foresight on the part of the author. It gives a lot of context to many things in the series. Plus people and situations come up throughout the rest of the books that were mentioned in sometimes a small way in this one. If you haven't read the novellas, get on that! I'm not a huge fan of novellas but with these ones they really do add a lot to the series and the five of them together reads like a novel.

So the biggest change for me while reading Throne of Glass is that this time I listened to the audiobook. I had listened to the audio for The Assassin's Blade so I knew the general tone of the narrator but I was interesting to see how she would do the rest of the series. I had heard from a few people that they didn't really like some of her choices but for me it worked. She makes the characters a little cocky and conceited but I felt like it made sense for their characterization.

What I also really liked about the audio in this case is that it didn't make the multiple perspectives so frustrating. I still didn't love the narrative style and found there still to be a lot going on in terms of the plot development but it was all really good. I was kind of surprised by how much of the plot I did remember in Throne of Glass. And maybe it's because now I'm really invested in the series or maybe because the audio format just suited the book better to me, but I liked it more the second time around.

With Crown of Midnight I was surprised by how much of the plot I had forgotten. I of course remembered all the major plot points but that was about it. I remembered the big reveal at the end and the big sad thing that happens around the middle but other than that it was mostly like I was reading it for the first time. Which actually is kind of cool. With favorite series there is often this desire to want to experience it for the first time all over again and I feel a little bit like I got to do that. And of course things came flooding back to me as I kept reading but I had forgotten so much.

But the other great thing about Crown of Midnight, and this series in general, is the amount of foreshadowing there is. Knowing where the larger story is going, I can pick up the subtle little clues that I may have missed the first time. It really made for a deeper reading experience which is one of the reasons that I like doing rereads. I am the kind of person who prides themselves on being able to solve twists and after this reread I was kind of kicking myself for not solving this one.

Heir of Fire was and still is my favorite book in the series so far. I love it because the world is mostly developed so we can spend time developing the characters a lot more. Celaena's arc in this book is amazing. But then there are all the new characters. Manon Blackbeak is one of my all-time favorite secondary characters and Aedion is so interesting as well. I know a lot of people are huge fans of Rowan but he just doesn't do much for me. Although this time around I can understand more why people like him.

I also really loved the audio for this book despite some of the names being pronounced in ways very different to how I originally pronounced them (like Manon). I liked it because there is also so much going on plot wise in this book and for me the audio translates better to that kind of storytelling. And it was also just as memorable and emotional story. I try to compartmentalize my feels for what happens in this book (DORIAAAAAN!) and when I reread all of them came flooding back and I was left feeling just as emotionally drained.

But now I am so ready for Queen of Shadows! It comes out next Tuesday so I just have to get through the next five days and then my e-book will magically get delivered to my kindle so I can start reading. And because I liked the audiobooks so much I think I'm going to grab the one for Queen of Shadows as well.

Have you done any rereads lately? What books? Do you like doing rereads or not? Tell me why. I hope you like this new feature. I'm hoping to do it once a month or when I finish a reread of a series. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

2 comments:

I love re-reading earlier books before the sequels come out. I re-read Cinder this month. I'll be re-reading that whole series before Winter comes out. I'm also planning to re-read Fangirl in September before Carry On comes out in October.

I also like to re-read books before the movies come out, so I plan to re-read The Martian in September as well.

I'm re-reading Heir of Fire right now and I hope to finish it this weekend so I can be all ready when Queen of Shadows downloads to my Kindle!!The same thing happened to me with Crown of Midnight, but also with Throne of Glass, damn I had forgotten so many things and so many small details that I had missed the first time! I'm so very happy I decided to re-read them!

About Me

One of the great joys of my life is curling up with a good (or sometimes bad) book. I'm rarely without a book, and I read any chance I can get. I will pretty much read anything and enjoy both YA and adult works. It's very hard for me to decide what to read on a given day so I often read multiple books at once. When I'm not reading I can be found cooking, traveling, or hanging out with my super cute cat.